Machine for cutting off short lengths of flexible material and creasing and folding the same



F. A. SQUIRE Nov. 19, 193 5 MACHINE FOR CUTTING OFF SHORT LENGTHS OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL AND CREASING AND FOLDING THE SAME Filed Dec. 27, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet l F A SQUIRE 2,021,614 MACHINE FOR CUTTING OFF SHORT LENGTHS OF FLEXIBLE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 27, 1954 MATERIAL AND CREASING AND FOLDING THE SAME Nov. 19, 1 935.

Nov. 19, 1935.

5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec 27 1954 Fig.4,

MATERIAL-AND CREASING AND FOLDING ,THE SAME A. SQUIRE MACHINE FOR CUTTING OFF SHORT LENGTHS OF FLEXIBLE mmmmmimm 1 1111 1 MWMM W l m 1935- F. A.. SQUIRE MACHINE FOR CUTTING OFF SHORT LENGTHS OF 2,021,614 FLEXIBLE 4 MATERIAL AND CREASING AND FOLDING THE SAME Filed Dec. 27, 1934 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Nov. 1-9,

Nov. 19, 1935. SQUIRE 2,021,614

MACHINE FOR CUTTING OFF SHORT LENGTHS OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL AND CREASING AND FOLDING THE SAME Filed Dec. 27, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Nov. 19, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MACHINE FOR CUTTING OFF snon'r LENGTHS F FLEXIBLE MATERIAL AND CREASING AND FOLDING THE SAME land Application December 27, 1934, Serial No. 759,369 In Great Britain March 27, 1934 8 Claims.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved machine for rapidly cutting off short lengths from a strip of flexible material, such as paper coated with gum on one side,

and creasing and folding the same transversely.

Such short strips may be used for fixing postage stamps and other articles into albums.

According to the present invention the machine comprises a driving shaft, means for giving intermittent motion to the material drawn off a spool, means for creasing the material transversely and cutting it into short strips, means for folding the material on the crease and expelling the folded strip from the machine. Means may also be provided for giving warning when the machine has produced nearly a certain number of folded strips, which number may be varied, and means for indicating exactly when the said number has been produced.

The invention will be described as applied to a machine for making what are known as stamp hinges, but it will be understood that the machine could cut short lengths of other material than paper such as woven tape and thin metal strips.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan of the machine partly broken away, and

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 5 drawn to a larger scale.

Fig. 4 is an end elevation partly broken away, and the two parts are separated to show them more clearly.

Fig. 5 is an interior view, partly in section, on the line 55 of Fig. 1, the side plate being removed, drawn to a larger scale than Fig. 2 to show clearly the path of the material through the nections for the warning and counting apparatus.

Fig. '7 is a side elevation showing the means for operating the creaser bar and cutter, seen from the opposite side to Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a stamp hinge.

Fig. 9 is a front elevation of the main shaft and parts adjacent thereto.

As shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4 the machine has a base I0 and brackets II At the rear of the base I0 is mounted an electric motor I2 having a driving pulley I3 which by means of a belt I4 gives motion to the driven pulley I5 fixed on one end of the main shaft I5.

Adjacent to the motor I2 are fixed two carriers I'I to support a shaft I8 on which the reels .I9 are mounted.

At the front of the base is a starting and stopping switch 29 for the motor I2. 5

On the brackets II there is mounted an instrument board on which are fixed an electric warning lamp 2 I, an electric bell 22 and a switch 23 to enable the counting apparatus to indicate when for example 500 or 1000 stamp hinges have 10 been delivered to an envelope 24. On the instrument board is also fixed a plug 25 (Fig. 4)

to which may be connected a lamp (not shown) which is placed upon the base Ill in cold weather to keep the gum dry on the strip of material from 15 which the hinges are made.

At one end the main shaft l6 has two eccentrics 26, 21 the straps of which give vertical motion at one end to the levers 28, 29 pivoted respectively at 30, 3|. At the other end the lever 29 is pivoted to a link 32 and gives reciprocal vertical motion to a block 33 to which the links 34, 35 are fixed. The link 54 is connected at its upper end to the creaser bar 36 and the link 35 is connected to the cutter bar 31. These bars 36 and 31 are pivoted respectively at 38 and 39 to the brackets 40, 40 and are arranged transversely to the strip as shown in Fig. 1.

At the other end the main shaft I6 carries a bevel wheel 4| gearing with a bevel wheel 42 on an inclined worm shaft 43, on the upper end of which is a bevel wheel 44 gearing with a bevel wheel 45 on a stub shaft 45 on which is mounted a roller hereinafter described. A pressure and delivery roller 41 is mounted near to the bevel wheel 45. This roller 41 presses the material on one side of the crease on to the material on the other side of the crease.

On the main shaft I5, as shown in Figs. 5 and 9 is fixed a gear wheel 48 driving the gear wheel 49 which drives the shaft 59 on the outer end of which is mounted the gear wheel 49a (Fig. 2) giving motion to the gear wheel 5| on which is mounted the pull-off roller 52. This roller 52 continuously pulls the strips of material 53 from the reels I9. Above the roller 52 are pressure rollers 54, each pressure roller being carried by a forked arm pivoted at 55. A spring 57 presses upon each forked arm 55, the pressure being adjusted by the screw 59. The roller 52 is made of rubber and its effective diameter may be varied by applying more or less pressure by the rollers 54 for the purpose of increasing or reducing the feed.

The material 53 is drawn forward by the in- 55 termittently moved grooved roller 59. Within each groove is a pressure roller 99 carried by a forked arm 9| pivoted at 62. A spring 93 applies pressure to each arm 9| and the pressure is adjusted by means of a screw 64.

Adjacent to the rollers 59 and 69 is a fixed shear 65 against the edge of which acts the cutter bar in. creaser bar 39 is a row of small rollers 66 which keep the material 59 in contact with the endless intermittently driven band 61 made of soft material preferably rubber, passing around the rollers 68 and 69 and over the fixed bar 79 which receives the pressure of the creaser bar 36 thereby forming a crease in the material. The rollers 68 and 69 are driven intermittently by the pawl II (Fig. 'I), carried by the lever 28, which engages with a ratchet wheel I2 fixed to the gear wheel I3. This latter gears with a smaller gear wheel I9 fixed to a larger gear wheel I5 which through an idle gear wheel I6 gives intermittent motion to the gear wheels TI, TI fixed on the shafts carrying the rollers 68 and 69. The gear wheel I3 also gears with the gear wheel I8 to which the roller 59 is fixed. An idle roller I9 presses on the under side of the band 91 to keep it properly in tension. Close to the band 91 is another endless band 99 passing around the rollers 98, 82, and 93. The roller 82 is driven by the stub shaft 99 and the roller is employed to keep the band 99 in tension. The band 89 drives by friction the delivery roller 41.

As the delivery roller 41 presses on the gummed surface of part of a stamp hinge 84, 85, a fixed strip of felt 86, in contact with'the roller 41, is employed to keep the roller 4! clean.

The stamp hinge is shown clearly in Fig. 8 and is similar to those previously made by hand, having a longer portion a l which is stuck in an album and a shorter portion 85 on to which a stamp is stuck.

Owing to the speed with which the machine is driven certain parts, for instance the grooved roller 59, which is intermittently driven, would have continuous motion due to momentum. To ensure that such parts are only driven intermittcntly the shaft carrying the roller 59 is provided With a disc 91 (Fig. 2) having dogs 88 on its periphery. A pivoted hook 89 has a lever 99 (Fig. 5) fixed thereto which is moved by a cam 9| on the main shaft IS. The hook 89 pressed by the spring 92, engages the dogs 88 and stops the rotation of the shaft at the desired times.

To prevent rebound of the dogs 88 from the hook 89, a pivoted spring pressed stop 93 is raised by each dog as it passes and then snaps down behind it.

At the front of the machine is fixed a chute 94 to deliver the stamp hinges into an envelope 29 (Fig. 2).

As shown in Fig. 6 the wires and 99 are con-- nected to the mains. The wire 95 is connected by the wire 91 to the bell 22 and thence by the wire 98 to the contact 99. Another wire I99 connects the wire 95 to the lamp 2| and thence by the wire 59! to the contact I92. The wire 99 is connected by the wire I93 to the contact studs I94 forming a single elongated contact common to the bell and lamp circuits. The wire 98 has a branch I95 leading to the contact stud I96 and the wire I9I has a branch I96a leading to the contact stud I91. The wire 96 has a branch I98 which includes a switch I99 and. leads to the contact studs II9 forming a Between the cutter bar 3? and the single elongated contact which is common to the lamp and bell circuits.

The worm III on the shaft 43 gives motion to the worm wheel II 2 preferably made of insulating material. On one face of the worm wheel I I2 is a radial connecting bar H9 which passes over the contacts 99 and I94 closing the bell circuit. The connecting bar H3 moves off the contact 99 and on to the contact I92 closing the lamp circuit when, for instance, a thousand hinges have been delivered to the envelope 24. Continuing its travel, in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 6, the connecting bar H3 then passes over the pair of contacts H9 and the contact I96 and, if the switch I99 be closed, again closes the bell circuit. The connecting bar II3 then moves off the contact I99 and on to the contact I91 and again closes the lamp circuit. When the switch I99 is closed the lamp 2| will indicate half the number of hinges to that which it indicates when the switch I99 is open.

A roll II 4 of material carried by a reel I9 is shown in Fig. l. The material from the roll H4 passes up the channel guide H5, being drawn a by the continuously rotating rollers 52 and 54 and forms a loop I I 6. The material then passes up the second channel guide I I1 and between the intermittently rotating rollers 59 and 69. On

leaving the rollers 59 and 69 the material passes over the fixed shear 65 and is cut into lengths by the cutter bar 31. At the same time the creaser 36 presses the material into the travelling rubber band 61 against the fixed bar i9. From the band I9 the creased lengths of material pass between the delivery roller 4'5 and the travelling band 89 when the part 65 of the hinge is pressed tightly against the part 99 thus fixing the crease. The delivery roller 41 delivers the finished hinges into the chute 94 and they fall into an envelope 24.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. An improved machine for cutting off short lengths of flexible material, having in combination a reel, means for continuously drawing the material from the reel, a fixed shear, means for intermittently feeding the material over the fixed shear, a cutter acting in conjunction with the shear, a creaser bar, a travelling intermittently driven band on to which the creaser bar presses the material, an eccentric on the main shaft giving motion to one end of a pivoted lever, a pawl on the other end of said pivoted lever, a ratchet wheel driven by the pawl, suitable gearing driven by the ratchet wheel, two rollers driven by said gearing and around which the said travelling band passes, and a second travelling band passing around two other rollers to carry the cut and creased material between it and a delivery roller.

2. An improved machine for cutting off short lengths of flexible material, having in combination a reel, a continuously rotating pull-off roller made of rubber, a spring pressed roller pressing on the pull-off roller, a screw acting upon the spring to adjust the feed, a fixed shear, means for intermittently feeding the material over the fixed shear, a cutter acting in conjunction with the shear, a creaser bar, a travelling intermittently driven band on to which the creaser bar presses thematerial, an eccentric on the main shaft giving motion to one end of a pivoted lever, a pawl on the oth r end of said pivoted lever, a ratchet wheel driven by the pawl, suitable gearing driven by the ratchet wheel, two

rollers driven by said gearing and around which the said travelling band passes, and a second travelling band passing around two other rollers to'carry the cut and creased material between it and a delivery roller.

3. An improved machine for cutting off short lengths of flexible material having in combination a reel, means for continuously drawing the material from the reel, an intermittently driven shaft, a disc on said shaft, dogs on said disc, a spring pressed pivoted hook moved by a rotating cam which engages each dog, a spring pressed catch which is raised by each dog, and then drops behind it to prevent rebound of the dog, a fixed shear, means driven by the intermittently driven shaft for intermittently feeding the material over the fixed shear, a cutter acting in conjunction with the shear, a creaser bar, a travelling intermittently driven band on to which the creaser bar presses the material, and a second travelling band carrying the cut and creased material between it and a delivery roller.

4. An improved machine for cutting off short lengths of flexible material, having in combination a reel, means for continuously drawing the material from the reel, a fixed shear, means for intermittently feeding the material over the fixed shear, a pivoted cutter acting in conjunction with the shear, a pivoted creaser bar acting sim taneously with the cutter, a travelling intermittently driven band of soft material into which the creaser bar presses the materials to form a crease and a second travelling band carrying the cut and creased material between it and a pressure and delivery roller that presses the material on one side of the crease on to the material on the other side of the crease.

5. An improved machine for cutting off short lengths of flexible material having in combination a reel, a main shaft, means operated by the main shaft for continuously drawing the material from the reel, a fixed shear, means driven by the main shaft for intermittently feeding the material over the fixed shear, a cutter operated by the main shaft and acting in conjunction with the shear, a creaser bar operated simultaneously with the cutter, a travelling band intermittently driven into which the creaser bar presses the material, a second travelling band driven from the main shaft, carrying'the cut and creased material between it and a pressure and delivery roller, one bell and one lamp, two sets of electrical contacts to close one side of the bell circuits, two sets of electrical contacts to close one side of the lamp circuits, a connecting bar driven from the main shaft to alternately close the lamp and bell circuits and a switch to cut in and to cut out one of the bell circuits and one of the lamp circuits, thereby enabling the bell and lamp to be operated after a predetermined number of pieces of material has been cut, creased and delivered when the switch is open or when half that number has been out, creased and delivered when the switch is closed.

6. An improved machine for cutting off short lengths of flexible material having in combination a reel, a main shaft, means operated by the main shaft for continuously drawing the material from the reel, a fixed shear, a grooved roller for intermittently feeding the material over the fixed shear, a spring pressed roller located within the groove in the roller, means for adjusting the pressure of the spring, a cutter acting in conjunction with the shear, a creaser bar, a travelling intermittently driven band on to which the creaser bar presses the material, an eccentric on the main shaft giving motion to one end of a pivoted lever, a pawl on the other end of said pivoted lever, a ratchet wheel driven by the pawl, suitable gearing driven by the ratchet wheel, two rollers driven by said gearing and around which the said travelling band passes, and a second travelling band passing around two other rollers to carry the cut and creased material between it and a delivery roller.

'7. An improved machine for cutting off short lengths of flexible material from a strip and creasing and folding the same transversely, having in combination a driving shaft, means driven by said shaft for giving intermittent motion to the material drawn off a reel, a pivoted knife and a pivoted straight creaser bar arranged transversely of the strip, means for simultaneously moving the pivoted knife and the pivoted straight creaser bar around their pivots into and out of contact with the strip and means for folding and pressing the material on one side of the crease on to the material on the other side of the crease and expelling the folded strip from the machine, said means consisting of an endless travelling band onto which the material passes and a pressure roller driven by the endless travelling band,

8. An improved machine for cutting off short lengths of flexible material having in combination a main shaft, a reel, means operated by the main shaft for-continuously drawing the material from the reel, a fixed shear, means driven by the main shaft for intermittently feeding the material over the fixed shear, a pivoted cutter operated by the main shaft and acting in conjunction with the shear, a pivoted creaser bar operated simultaneously with the cutter, a travelling band intermittently driven from the main shaft, on to which the creaser bar presses the material, a second travelling band, carrying the cut and creased material between it and a delivery roller, a bevel wheel fixed on the main shaft and driving a second bevel wheel mounted on one end of a shaft carrying a worm, a worm wheel driven by the worm, a third bevel wheel mounted on the other end of the worm shaft and driving a fourth bevel wheel giving motion to the said second travelling band, a connecting bar on said worm wheel, an electrical contact connected to one pole of a bell circuit and to one pole of a lamp circuit, a second electrical contact adapted to be connected to the other pole of the bell circuit, a third electrical contact adapted to be connected to the other pole of the lamp circuit, the second and third electrical contacts being so arranged that the said connecting bar first closes the bell circult to give warning and then breaks the bell circuit and closes the lamp circuit when a predetermined number of pieces of material has been cut, creased and delivered.

FREDERICK ARTHUR SQUIRE. 

